By Sheji Halima
A Russian military court on Friday sentenced an anti-war activist to 15 years imprisonment for setting fire to a military commissariat and desecrating the graves of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine.
In a statement, the court identified Angel Nikolayev as “an opponent of mobilisation” and provided a long list of his offences stretching back nearly two years.
On two separate occasions, Nikolayev spray-painted “symbols visually similar to Nazi symbols” on Russian flags draped over the graves of soldiers killed in Ukraine, the court said.
Zona Solidarnosti (Solidarity Zone), a Telegram channel that provides information about Russian anti war activists, said Nikolayev had painted a crossed-out “Z” the symbol of Moscow’s war in Ukraine on the flags.
His protest actions continued. Last spring, Nikolayev cut out the “Z” symbol on an advert poster at a local bus stop an act of vandalism, the court said.
He also tore off “Z” symbols pasted onto cars.
Later, last autumn, the court said Nikolayev set fire to a military recruitment centre in Khabarovsk using “two incendiary bottles with a flammable mixture” a terrorist act. No one was harmed in the incident but the building sustained serious damage, according to the court.
The prosecutor had sought an 18-year sentence for Nikolayev. He pleaded guilty, according to Zona Solidarnosti, but did not express any regret.
Over 20,000 people have been detained in Russia for expressing anti-war views since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, according to Russian rights group OVD-Info.
That figure includes those arrested for non-violent offences, such as posting negative opinions about the Russian army online or giving interviews to journalists about the war. (Reuters/NAN)
